The consultation ended in February attracted responses from a majority of MNOs and independent MVNOs in the EU and Norway, the EC said in a detailed report summarising the comments. There was a clear split in opinions about the competitiveness of the roaming market, with larger operators with more inbound traffic tending to think it works under the current conditions, while smaller operators with more outbound traffic saying wholesale rates are too high to cover costs. The strongest concerns tended to focus on the wholesale cost of data roaming, with MVNOs saying they are unable to negotiate prices below the current regulated caps.
A majority of the respondents want the EU to continue with the wholesale roaming price caps, but operators are divided on what the new prices should be. Certain incumbents and operators with a large footprint, and generally operators with large inbound roaming traffic, defend the view that RLAH is sustainable under current wholesale roaming price caps. Others, in particular smaller ones, MVNOs and operators with large outbound roaming traffic, argue that wholesale roaming price caps must be significantly lower in order to enable sustainable RLAH. In addition, there was widespread support for further harmonisation of mobile termination rates in order to enable RLAH for voice.
The European Commission will use the feedback to come up with legislative proposals. It aims to make a proposal by June, in order to allow time for the legislation to pass the Parliament and Council before the RLAH deadline of June 2017.
